It means that your friends will make sure they buy from you and not the competition. Even when price is an issue. And it is true much of the time.

Depends on the industry and sophistication of the product. What you describe happens all the time.

My tried and true is ask the right questions (ask) - find problems/needs (listen) - deliver solutions.

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It means that your friends will make sure they buy from you and not the competition. Even when price is an issue. And it is true much of the time.

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I wish I'd had that experience. I feel like friends are the hardest to sell to for me. Just a metaphorical wall of awkwardness.

The electrical industry is like this. All buddies in different companies. One sells lighting, one distributes their lighting, one installs their lighting, a few sell cable, others distribute that cable, etc etc.

They play softball, drink, play poker, build extra profit into jobs so they can go on vacations, hunting and fishing trips...

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It means that your friends will make sure they buy from you and not the competition. Even when price is an issue. And it is true much of the time.

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I wish I'd had that experience. I feel like friends are the hardest to sell to for me. Just a metaphorical wall of awkwardness.

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Make customers into friends.. Not friends into customers. That is always dicey.

And depending on the industry this approach can be hard. But if you are missing business and can't figure out why check the relationships your competitors have in place. This is a big part of complex sales. You have to be able to understand where you stand in relation to competition on more than just product, service and price.

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Gotcha. Your details put it in a light I've never personally had to deal with.

My instance had been where we had a stellar year and my manager wanted to treat our distributors. After the ''nicer wine' and the meal with about 15 of us the tab was about $3K. He didn't want it go up the chain and the higher ups never saw my expenses as long as it was under $7.5K/month. It wasn't an abuse. Just a don't ask, don't tell scenario kind of.

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As an accountant this would send up huge red flags. Did none of the finance guys see there was an extra 3k in meal expense? Someone has to explain the 3k variance to the budget for meals.

Don't ask, don't tell is never a good policy especially when it involves money or accounting. Being open and honest is usually the best policy. Hiding something like expenses can be a very serious offense. This is can be fraud.

A superior asking you to pick up an expense or approve an invoice they should be approving due to corporate policy could be a case of them trying to skirt the system. Never approve something you have no knowledge of, especially an invoice. One of the oldest frauds is fraudulent invoices. Someone submits a fraudulent invoice, then gets it approved and paid. Usually this would have to go through several people not realizing the charge was fraudulent (an not as likely), but at a small company two people colluding could have the same effect.

I assume as long as he stayed within budget for the quarter, he wasn't questioned. Again, I wasn't going to tell the boss no when he hands me the bill in front of our distributors and a major account. Not a concern for me anymore as I'm no longer there.

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I assume as long as he stayed within budget for the quarter, he wasn't questioned. Again, I wasn't going to tell the boss no when he hands me the bill in front of our distributors and a major account. Not a concern for me anymore as I'm no longer there.

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Still defending yourself. You're good in my book!

Need to cover my ass in case I need a yob from any of you yahoos in the future!

You do business with the people you know and trust, regardless of what other products and noise and being pitched to your client. Loyalty trumps equality 10/10 times. You might not have the "best", but if you treat people the "best", the value add is in the relationship and not the specific product.

95% sure this is a troll... But in case it isn't you realize that doing the right thing and avoiding being questioned are different right?

Yes I'm aware. And the right thing to me was not to question my boss in front of the people that my livelihood was dependent on.

You can judge the bull by the meat or you can take the butchers opinion oh waiiit Damm it

Always act with integrity.
Even if your boss asks you not to.
And especially in front of customers.

Chicken wings Tommy...

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It means that your friends will make sure they buy from you and not the competition. Even when price is an issue. And it is true much of the time.

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I wish I'd had that experience. I feel like friends are the hardest to sell to for me. Just a metaphorical wall of awkwardness.

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Make customers into friends.. Not friends into customers. That is always dicey.

And depending on the industry this approach can be hard. But if you are missing business and can't figure out why check the relationships your competitors have in place. This is a big part of complex sales. You have to be able to understand where you stand in relation to competition on more than just product, service and price.

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Do you know the name of your customer's wife and kids and do you ask about them when you see them? It only works if you actually care about finding out how they are doing. And listen to their issues and stories and limit the discussion of your issues and stories.

Yeah.. you can't fake caring for people and fool them. Unless your name is Bill Clinton that is.

Don't scratch your nuts in a meeting.

Look a woman in the eye no matter how big her knockers are.

Don't screw anyone on the payroll.

Its easier to marry money than to make money. (this is a Clayton Williams quote)

Great info in this thread.

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Regarding technical sales:

- Ask the right questions and listen.

- Look for ways to bring value. Make your customer better at their job or their job easier.

- Under sell and over deliver.

- Know your competitors products and their position with the customer. Learn how they sell against you. Do not negative sell but focus on your positives.

- Always run a little scared (do not get too confident)

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Don't scratch your nuts in a meeting.

Look a woman in the eye no matter how big her knockers are.

Don't screw anyone on the payroll.

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Well arent you just no fun! Those items are usually my suggestions for someone who is angling for a promotion.

Scratching your nuts in a meeting shows you are the boss

She wouldnt have those sweater puppies on blast if she wasnt wanting someone to stare. Besides if you dont you may offend her.

No screwing on the payroll? What about those sweater puppies?

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Ask good questions and let your customers vent or complain about your competitors. It's fairly common for a prospect to say something like "well I wasn't happy with x." The sales rep immediately sees it as an opportunity to sale so throws their pitch. Ask questions to get the customer to elaborate. The more they talk about the issue the more upset they'll get with your competitor.

Alright, you asked for the secret to selling something so I will share a bit. While I am an attorney I once took a ten year break and sold

Make whatever they are buying free for them

Here is what I mean. I once approached a automotive dealership group about some basic data and phone network. We were expensive so I had no chance but they had crappy phones so I made it free for them

I sold them on a comprehensive phone system with incoming call tracking, redundant phone systems, handsets, data, network, everything you could imagine. Over a million bucks spent but I made it free. How?

I sold them on improved management abilities and capture of lost opportunities. I showed them how by spending a million bucks or so they could capture every incoming call in a simple report, find out which sales guy got it, and find out what happened after the call. I put it in the managers hands and showed them that if the manager could sell an extra three cars a month in each store the whole thing was free

Find a way to make stuff free and you will sell the world

FYI, if you are a salesperson in a federal or state regulated industry and you tell the client the product/service is "free" when it isn't, you've broken the law.

For repeat customers that you visit with on a regular cadence: don't overstay your welcome. Tune into your situational awareness and understanding of body language to know when it's time to say "it was great to see you, I'll catch you later."

This is for in person or over the phone

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FYI, if you are a salesperson in a federal or state regulated industry and you tell the client the product/service is "free" when it isn't, you've broken the law.

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I think he was referencing the idea of "speaking their language".

For example:

At my work, our email had a 50 MB (yes, MB) limit up until 2013-2014. Why? The CTO kept explaining to the board that upgrades would cost millions and they wouldn't shell out the cash.

The new one changed tactics and said "yes you will spend X million, but the time savings of EVERY employee not having to move emails, back up data, NOT losing emails and less time searching for that one email 3 years ago is equal to X*X millions". In less than a few months, bam! New email server with 2 GB storage (like everyone else in the world). Plus, the changed a few servers and things ran faster. He could have stated that the new email was 'free' due to increased productivity and such.

AKA: Speak the language they will understand.

~egon

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FYI, if you are a salesperson in a federal or state regulated industry and you tell the client the product/service is "free" when it isn't, you've broken the law.

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Obviously you are not very good at sales.

I am in "sales", but not really. It's a portion of my job. If I made the comment that something was "free", I'd get a censure from the state Admin, a complaint on my U4, and a fine or potential jail time.

You can speak the language and not present it as free. You can present it as a value add that produces positive NPV, but you cant call the service "free".

You can do it, but you're asking for a compliance issue when all you have to do is change the verbiage to you will recoup the cost in X years.

You're reading way too much into the poster's word choice. The point is that you need to prove that your customer will be better off with your product, and a very effective way to do so is to show him savings under reasonable assumptions in excess of the cost of the goods or services you are selling. Nothing he has said implies that he is offering a potential customer free stuff.

I meant that to come across as a joke. I understand and agree with the compliance dynamic in our current business environment. I meant to humorously imply that a good salesperson will tend to steer more towards a gray area of interpretation of a compliance matter more than a literal interpretation of one.

"I put it in the managers hands and showed them that if the manager could sell an extra three cars a month in each store the whole thing was free"

That is an explicit reference....

Agree. It's why I never use the word "free" or even imply it's "free". I present it as a value add with the current set on one page and the proposed on the next and let them speak for themselves.

Anyways, just wanted to point out the pitfalls of "free". Don't want to derail.

I don't know what has happened to my thread.

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I don't know what has happened to my thread.

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It has been TexAgged.

Texagged: Past tense of the verb TexAg. Absorbing logical thought and relevant discussion into the black hole of intellectual mendacity.

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"I put it in the managers hands and showed them that if the manager could sell an extra three cars a month in each store the whole thing was free"

That is an explicit reference....

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I read that as saying, this product will allow you to sell more cars per month, heck just three pays for the entire install.

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"I put it in the managers hands and showed them that if the manager could sell an extra three cars a month in each store the whole thing was free"

That is an explicit reference....

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Yes, i read the post. Like I said, you are trying really, really hard to find some sort of impropriety that simply isn't there. Not sure why derailing the thread is so important to you.